


the crime of having nowhere to go

by torigates



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-07
Updated: 2012-03-07
Packaged: 2018-06-02 16:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6574372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wally faints after a mission in Missouri. Predictably, for him, things go downhill from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the crime of having nowhere to go

 

 

 

It happened by accident.

That is to say, Wally never _meant_ to introduce Artemis to his mom. In fact, he made a conscious effort to keep his superhero life separate from his family life wherever possible.

A tiny voice inside his heard called him on that lie: his superhero life and home life were explicitly and intricately tied together, not simply because Uncle Barry and Jay were always over for dinner, but because Wally _loved_ his superhero life. He loved his powers and he loved using them whenever possible. He used them to get his chores done all the time, and to fetch things from the store and sometimes he would just run to the next state over when he needed a break from his homework just because he could, so why the hell not?

So maybe it wasn’t so much that Wally wanted to keep his superhero and home life separate so much as he wanted to keep his _team_ life separate.

Except. That wasn’t strictly speaking true either. Conner had come to stay with the Wests after the whole Cadmus fiasco, before he even _was_ Conner, and sometimes his mom still invited him over for dinner. And Robin had been over to hang out on a few rare occasions, and really, the more time Wally spent thinking about it, the more holes he poked into the whole separate superhero life theory.

He just knew he had good reason for not wanting Artemis to come over to his house, or at the very least whenever he imagined her coming over to his house (which, _for the record_ was never) it wasn’t like this, when he was tired and weak from the mission and he hadn’t eaten in over four hours.

There had been a minor villain, not even really on the Justice League’s radar, making a fuss in Missouri, and Batman decided that the team could use the practice. He told them he had every faith in their ability not to screw it up.

It turned out the reason Batman never complimented anyone was because a ringing endorsement from him was nothing more than a jinx.

First thing into their fight, Kaldur was injured, effectively sidelining him. Shortly thereafter, M’gann was knocked unconscious.

Which meant no mind link.

Wally hadn’t noticed until it was gone how much they had all come to rely on the non-verbal communication. Without the link they fought sloppy. Superboy practically went into a fit of rage, worrying over M’gann’s safety, and refused to leave her side. With Kaldur already down for the count, that left the crime fighting to Wally, Robin, Zatanna, and Artemis.

They won. It just took longer than any of them were really expecting. Wally couldn’t speak for the rest of the tam, but he was shaken. They had gotten so used to working along side each other, he had never really considered what would happen if suddenly they couldn’t fight _as a team_.

“Well,” Robin said. “That could have gone better.”

Wally nodded.

They made their way back to the bioship, where Kaldur, Conner, and M’gann were waiting for them. M’gann was awake, Wally saw, and suddenly his chest felt a little lighter.

“How’re you feeling?” Artemis asked. She and Zatanna had immediately rushed to M’gann’s side. Robin was checking on Kaldur.

“Stupid,” M’gann said.

“No,” Zatanna reassured here. “It could have happened to any of us.”

“I just feel terrible you all had to fight without the mind link.”

“I must admit to feeling foolish myself,” Kaldur chimed in. His ankle was swollen, but from where Wally was standing it only looked sprained, not broken.

“Hey,” Rob said. “It happens. No harm, no foul. We’ll just head back to the cave--”

M’gann coughed.

“What?” Artemis asked.

“It’s just--well. I can’t fly the bioship yet. I’m still feeling a little woozy.”

“We can wait here until you are able to fly,” Kaldur said. “My injuries are not grave.”

Wally opened his mouth to agree that it was no big deal, but his knees chose that exact second to give out on him. He wasn’t even aware of it happening until he felt the bite of gravel on his palms.

“KF!” Robin was at his side.

Wally tried to stand, but was quickly overcome with the world’s biggest case of head rush.

“Woah,” he said. “Head rush.”

Artemis put her hand on his elbow and helped him to his feet. He hadn’t even noticed her move away from M’gann’s side, and he had a horrifying moment of wondering if had had actually passed out, and if anyone had noticed.

“When was the last time you ate?” Artemis asked.

Wally thought about it. “Back at the cave before we left. But that was only--”

“Over four hours ago!” Artemis cut him off.

“Really?” he asked. “Whoops.”

Robin shook his head, and Artemis smacked him on the shoulder.

“Well fine,” he said with a shrug. “My bad. Easy enough to fix.” He opened the snack compartment on his arm to find it empty. “Shit.”

“What?” Rob asked.

Artemis looked over and shook her head. “You forgot to restock, didn’t you?”

He ducked his head, sheepish. “I didn’t think the mission would last so long!” he said.

Artemis rolled her eyes. “Do you have any stores on board?”

“Yes--no. I, um, ate those too.”

“Awesome,” Artemis said.

She and Robin helped him over to where M’gann and Kaldur were sitting. Three members of the team incapacitated, and no way for them to get back to the cave. Definitely, not the best showing the Junior Justice League had ever had.

“All in favour of not telling Batman about this?” Wally asked with a smile. Now that the adrenaline of the fight had worn off and Wally didn’t have anything else to think about besides the rumbling of his stomach, he started to worry a little. But in a very manly way. It was just--he didn’t want to pass out (again) in front of the team.

That would be embarrassing.

He looked around. “You know, we’re actually not that far from where my parents live. I could probably make it there, have a bite to eat and meet you back at the cave.”

“No!”

All eyes turned to face Artemis. Wally had expected some resistance to his plan. He hadn’t expected it to come from her.

“Why not?” he asked.

“You can barely stand. You won’t make it ten feet before you collapse. Or worse, you’ll make it just out of our sight, and pass out in a ditch. Then what?”

He had actually hoped no one would point out that particular plot hole. “Well, what do you suggest?” he asked. His stomach was groaning painfully loud now.

“You could go with him,” M’gann suggested.

“What? No,” Artemis protested.

“Besides, it’s only close enough for _me_ ,” Wally said. “It would take us hours to walk there normally.” He knew he wouldn’t last hours. He could maybe, _maybe_ make it to his parents house if he left now.

“No worries,” Robin said, appearing from inside the bioship. Wally hadn’t even noticed him leaving their group. “Problem solved.”

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

“You’ll see,” he said.

Ten minutes later Uncle Barry showed up in his car. Wally buried his face in his hands, because that was exactly what he needed, for his uncle to come bail him out after a mission.

“Heard you needed ride?” Barry said with a smirk.

“Yeah,” Wally mumbled into his shoes, and moved to stand. He was still feeling a little unsteady on his feet, Artemis helped him up.

“Hop in. You kids going to be okay?” he asked. “Want me to send someone else along?”

“We will be fine,” Kaldur said.

“I’ll be good to fly soon,” M’gann chimed in.

Wally grumbled. He felt like he was being punished.

“Get in, kid,” Barry said.

Wally turned to wave goodbye, and saw Artemis standing right behind him. “Are--are you coming?” he asked, honestly bewildered.

She looked a little puzzled herself. Wally had noticed when she helped him up from his seat earlier. He hadn’t noticed her stay behind him as he crossed the distance from the bioship to Uncle Barry’s car.

“Well, get in,” Barry said.

They did.

“I called your mom,” Barry said once they were on their way. “She knows we’re coming so there’ll be food ready when we get there.”

“Awesome,” Wally said, and only meant it a little sarcastically. It was just--his mom worried. A lot. She was the one who had originally insisted he keep extra food on him at all times after a few emergency trips to the hospital that could have been easily avoided if Wally simply had something to eat on him.

She always scolded him whenever he forgot. She was not going to be pleased.

“Don’t blame me,” Barry said. “You were the one too stupid to refill your food.”

“You didn’t tell her that?” Wally asked.

Barry just looked at him.

“You couldn’t have, I don’t know, said it was a long mission and I just _ran out_ of food?” Wally complained.

Barry raised his eyebrow. “One, you know I don’t lie for you, and two, she would just say you should have packed more.”

If Wally chose not to dignify that with a response, it certainly was not because Barry had a point.

They drove in silence for a couple minutes before Barry started up conversation, asking a couple questions about the mission, but Wally found it hard to concentrate over the rumbling in his stomach. Artemis stepped in to answer most of them, but even through his starvation haze he could tell she felt uncomfortable.

He wanted to ask her if everything was okay, but he didn’t want to do it in front of Barry, and actually forming words was getting to be a challenge. He definitely would not have made it home on his own. He hated that Artemis was right.

His mom met them in the driveway with a glass of milk, a sandwich, and a pinched expression on her face. Wally gulped down the entire glass even before getting out of the car, and he ate the sandwich in two large bites.

When he was done, his mom smacked him in the head.

“Ow,” he protested. “Mom.”

“Don’t ‘ow mom’ me,” she said. “What have I said, Wally? _What have I said_?”

He looked down at his shoes. Behind him, Artemis coughed.

“Hello dear,” his mom said, turning to her. “I’m sorry my son is too incompetent to feed himself, let alone introduce us.”

“Mom,” he said. “Come _on_ ,”

She turned and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t start.”

“Hi, Mrs. West. I’m Artemis,” she said, introducing herself.

“Of course you are, dear,” his mom said and smiled at her. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Come inside, come inside.”

She turned and walked abruptly back into the house. Barry followed behind her.

He looked over to where Artemis was standing. She looked a bit shell shocked.

“So,” she said with a laugh. “That’s your mom.”

“That’s my mom,” Wally said. He couldn’t help but smile even though he was pretty sure he had never been more embarrassed.

“Wallace!”

Scratch that. _Now_ he had never been more embarrassed. Artemis looked at him and mouthed _Wallace_ as they walked into the house. Wally was sure there was a biting comeback somewhere to be made, but the truth was the sandwich had barely taken off the edge of his hunger, so he wasn’t operating at full capacity.

That was his story, anyway.

His mom was waiting for him by the front door, her arms crossed over her chest. She pointed to the kitchen. “There’s a bowl of pasta in there for you,” she said, still not looking pleased.

Wally zipped off to get it. From the kitchen, he could hear her talking. “Artemis, honey, do you want to change? Take a shower? I have some sweatpants you can wear.”

“I’d like a shower,” Wally called out from the kitchen. The sweat on his body had dried and was starting to itch. He had long since pushed back the cowl on his costume, but his face felt tight and his hair was still damp with perspiration.

“I wasn’t talking to you!” his mom called back. “Eat your food.”  
  
Wally pulled off his gloves, grabbed a fork from the drawer, and scarfed down his pasta. The “bowl” his mom had left him was really an entire pot of macaroni and cheese, so that was amazing. He was just finishing when Artemis appeared at the door wearing a pair of his mom’s old leggings and a baggy t-shirt that Wally recognized as one of his own from a few years ago.

He smiled at her. “Hey,” he said.

She smiled back.

Wally opened his mouth to speak again, but his mom came into the kitchen. “Dinner in five,” she said. “You can go change now.”

“That... wasn’t your dinner?” Artemis asked.

His mom laughed. “Oh honey, no.” Then she laughed harder at the sight of Artemis’ eyebrows receding into her hairline. “Wally, go change.”

Wally zipped off and was back in the kitchen in under thirty seconds. Usually he wouldn’t rush back, because his mom was sure to make him set the table, but something about leaving his mom and Artemis alone made him uncomfortable.

“Oh good,” his mom said. “You can set the table.” She handed him a stack of plates.

“Who else is coming?” Wally asked.

“Well, Barry’s already here, so Iris is coming over as well, and then your dad, and Artemis.”

“Oh,” Artemis said. “I couldn’t--I mean, I should probably go anyway.” She gestured vaguely over her shoulder.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” his mom said. “You’re here already. You’ll stay and then Wally or Barry can take you back to... which state do you live in?” It was a testament to how much Wally’s life had changed that this wasn’t an unusual question for his mom to be asking one of his friends.

“Oh,” Artemis said. “Um.”

His mom waved her hand. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll get you home after dinner. As long as that’s okay, obviously. Do you need to call your parents?”

“Uh,” Artemis said. “No, it’s fine.”

“Great!” his mom beamed at her. “Do you mind helping Wally set the table?” she didn’t wait for an answer, just shoved a bunch of cutlery into Artemis’ hands.

They walked into the dining room, and Wally quickly put a plate at each setting. Before Artemis could move, he grabbed the forks and knives and set them down on the table too.

“Show off,” she said.

Wally grinned. He zipped into the kitchen and was back with glasses. “Hey,” he said, as he put one by each plate at a normal speed. “Sorry about my mom.”

“It’s cool,” Artemis said.

“I mean, you’re okay to stay?” he asked. “For dinner, I mean. I know she can be a little hard to say no to.”

“Yeah,” Artemis said. “It’s fine. I mean, thanks.”

Dinner at the West household was always a bit of a production, even when it was just Wally and his parents. Add a guest or two into the mix, and suddenly everything because even more theatrical.

Aunt Iris had arrived sometime after them, and his dad walked in the door right as they were sitting down to eat. His mom put two chicken breasts on his plate and three scoops of mashed potatoes and a healthy serving of vegetables.

She turned to Artemis. “I assume you can serve yourself, dear,” she said. “Unlike some people.”

“Did Wally forget to eat again?” his dad asked.

“Numskull forgot to restock his supplies,” Barry supplied helpfully.

His dad’s eyebrows drew together, and he looked back and forth between them. “Wally,” he said.

His mom shook him off. “It’s fine, Rudolph,” she said. “We talked about it.” They hadn’t, really, but Wally appreciated his mom covering for him.

His dad stared at him for a long minute before turning away. “Hi,” he said to Artemis. “I’m Wally’s dad.”

She smiled awkwardly. “Artemis.”

“Yes,” his dad said. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

A strange look passed over Artemis’ face. Wally couldn’t quite make it out.

“How was school today?” his dad asked. “How’d the test go?”

Ugh. Wally had been hoping in all the excitement that his parents might have forgotten about the English test he had today. Apparently not. “It was fine,” he said.

His mom hummed and swallowed a bite of potatoes. “How was it really?” she asked.

Wally grumbled and tried to get out of answering by shoving a forkful of food into his mouth. Instead, everyone just stared at him while he chewed and swallowed. “It was okay, I guess. Essay question, you know.”

His mom and dad nodded.

“Well,” Barry said. “At least you’re pretty.”

Artemis choked on her mouthful.

“Har har, Barry,” Wally said, at the same time as his mom asked her if she was okay. Artemis nodded and took a sip of her water.

“It’s true,” Iris said. “At least you have your looks. Right Artemis?”

Artemis choked again, and Wally resisted the urge to crawl under the table. His family was nothing but a bunch of traitors, that was what. His mom and Iris shared a look, before his mom patted Artemis gently on the back.

They actually managed to make it through the rest of dinner with only one minor incident, wherein Wally’s dad asked Artemis about her school. They managed to avoid it without too much embarrassment on Wally’s end, and Artemis managed to refrain from actually kicking any of Wally’s family members (which was her default reaction to people asking about her life), so Wally was proud of her for that.

When everyone was done, Wally cleared the table. It was obvious the adults were going to sit around talking about boring adult stuff, so Wally caught Artemis’ attention, and the two of them headed into the kitchen.

“Do you want a smoothie?” Wally asked.

“Do I want a what?” she asked, and hopped onto the kitchen counter.

He shook his head. “A smoothie?” he said. “Delicious fruit drink, mixed with other delicious goodness?”

“I know what a smoothie is, genius,” Artemis said. “I’m just not sure why you’re offering me one.”

He shrugged his shoulders, and reached under the counter to pull out a giant jar of whey protein. “I’m going to have one, and I thought I’d share,” he said. “Because I, unlike some people, did not miss that day in kindergarten.”

“Very funny,” she said.

“Whatever,” Wally said. “Do you want one or not?”

“Sure,” she said.

Wally nodded and went to the fridge to start pulling out ingredients. When he turned back around Artemis was watching him with a sort of horrified fascination. He laughed.

“Don’t worry, I won’t put all this in yours.” He gestured to the extra protein supplements he would add to his own. He grabbed the blender out of another cabinet, and tossed in some plain yogurt, assorted fruit, and orange juice, before turning it on.

When it had blended for a few minutes he poured a glass and handed it to Artemis. She took it, but didn’t drink from it. After a moment of her staring silently at him, he reached out and took a sip.

“For heaven’s sake, it’s not poisoned,” he said. “You just watched me make it!”

She yanked it back from him, took a sip, and raised her eyebrows at him as if to say, ‘happy now?’ Wally was, so he didn’t say anything else.

Instead, he turned his attention back to the blender to concoct his own drink. Unlike the one he had made for Artemis, it contained two tablespoons of whey protein, oatmeal, tofu, on top of the fruit and good stuff.

When he was done and had gulped down a couple mouthfuls, Artemis finally spoke. “What is _in_ that?” she asked.

Wally shrugged, trying for nonchalance. “A lot of protein,” he said. “I need to drink at least three of these a day, usually one before bed if I want to get more than four hours of interrupted sleep.”

Artemis slumped back against the kitchen wall. “Wow,” she said.

“Yeah, whatever. I mean that’s the price of being a speedster.”

Artemis nodded, seemingly considering what he said. “I never realised how much you had to eat,” she said slowly. “And that’s actually saying something.”

Wally snorted. “I know, right? It can get pretty bad if I skip meals, which is why my mom freaked out as much as she did.”

“She didn’t...” Artemis said.

Wally waved her off. “Thanks for being so cool about that, by the way,” he said. “I’m sorry my family is so,” he trailed off. “Whatever they are. And thanks for coming. You didn’t have to.”

“You asked me to,” she said.

Had he? Wally didn’t remember asking her along, but he was pretty out of it when Barry had arrived to pick him up. He was lucky that Artemis hadn’t let him run off on his own. The rest of the team probably wouldn’t have let him go off on his own, but who knew for sure what would have happened. Artemis was the only one to speak up. She was always the one saving him from himself. And he needed that more than he liked to admit.

“Well,” he said. “Thanks for taking me up on the offer.” He grinned, and she smiled back.

Wally gulped down the rest of his drink in one large gulp, and shook his head. Even with the fruit and the juice he could still taste the whey. It was pretty gross. “Blech,” he said.

He put everything back in the fridge, and started loading the dishwasher. After a moment, Artemis jumped off the counter and began to help him.

“So,” he said when they were done. “It’s not too far to walk to the zeta tube from here, even at normal speeds.”

She rolled her eyes.

Wally poked his head into the dining room. “Mom?” he called. “I’m going to walk Artemis over to the zeta so she can go home.”

His mom, dad, Uncle Barry, and Aunt Iris all got up from the table, and saw them to the door. His mom handed Artemis a bag containing her folded up costume, as well as her bow and quiver.

“Uh, thanks for dinner, Mrs. West,” Artemis said.

His mom smiled, and looked like she wanted to give Artemis a hug. Wally prayed she would not act on that urge. Thankfully she did not.

“Any time, dear.”

“Thank you for having me, Mr. West,” Artemis added, turning to Wally’s dad. “Bye,” she said to Barry and Iris.

Everyone stood at the door and waved as they walked down the street. Wally wished for the ground to open up and swallow him hole.

“Sorry about them,” Wally said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Artemis said. Her voice sounded strained.

“Want me to carry the bag?” he asked. He knew better than to try and touch her bow.

“Nah,” she said. “I got it.”

He tucked his hands into his pockets and they walked down the street in silence. They made it to the portal quickly, and Artemis turned to him. “So,” she said.  
  
He smiled. “Listen, thanks. For looking out for me and stuff. And for hanging out with my family. I’m sure that wasn’t high on your list of priorities.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. “No,” she said after a short pause. “It was--good. I had fun.”

He grinned.

“Don’t forget to eat next time, doofus,” she said, and shoved him in the shoulder. Her hand stayed on his arm, and he reached over and covered it with his own.

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I know. It was stupid.”

She looked up at him. “At least you’re pretty, right?”

He laughed, and pulled her hand he was still holding over his heart. “I knew you thought I was pretty,” he said. “I knew it.”

“Yeah, well.” She pulled her hand out of his grip and stepped back, looking down.

He didn’t think about it. He stepped forward into her space. His hands came up and cupped her face, and he leaned down, bringing their lips together. He only had a brief moment before they touched to notice the shock in her eyes, and then they were kissing. He closed his eyes, and she opened her mouth against his. He could feel her bow digging painfully into his ribs, but he ignored it, and focused instead on the feeling of her arm wrapped around his waist, and her mouth on his.

After a long moment, she pulled back. He kept his hands on her neck. Their foreheads were close together, and he could feel the faint puff of her breath against his face.

“Um,” he said.

“What was that for?” she asked.

“I just, um,” he said. “Artemis.” He leaned forward and pressed another hard kiss against her mouth. “I’m just, um, I’m glad you were here today,” he finished. “And not just because you took care of me when I--”

“Fainted?” she cut in.

Damn. He had really hoped no one had noticed that bit. “I did not faint,” he insisted.

She stepped back a little. “Whatever you say, Baywatch,” she told him with a smirk.

“I’ll see you later, right?” he asked, as she stepped out of his reach and moved towards the portal.

“Yeah,” she called over her shoulder. “See you later, Wall-Man.”

Wally held up his hand in a little wave even though she was already gone, then grinned.

\----------


End file.
